Chocolate Cherry Scones — Day 1

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cherry chocolate scones
Where’s that cup of tea to go along?

Here we are right near our volunteer night for the downtown walk in which we take part. It’s easy work, helping people checking in, answering questions, and just trying to help out where we’re needed. But, as with any event in which there are volunteers, sometimes that initial shine wears off, making the work a bit less attractive as you go along. To help with that, we always try to bring a few little treats to the other volunteers for our night. We’re always excited about finding something new to bring, and we hope that people look forward to their volunteer shift. This week we made some scones, but not just any scones.

This recipe is another from Bouchon Bakery, by Thomas Keller and Sebastian Rouxel, and we’ll say right up front that we made a double batch, which we do not recommend by any means. Well, if you have a large commercial mixer, go for it, but a home mixer won’t be up to the task; instead, follow the quantities we list, and, if you, as we are, feeding some volunteers, make two batches in succession.

Now, be forewarned: this recipe takes three days from start to finish, so don’t think you can have these ready to go late the same day you start. But, the amount of effort you have to put forth on each day is minimal, so just take it a day at a time. Since that’s how we made these scones, that’s how we’ll post them: day by day. We’ll list all the ingredients today so you can be sure that you have everything on hand.

Chocolate Cherry Scones

Author: Shawn

Ingredients

For the cherries

  • 118 g water (1/2 cup)
  • 105 g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
  • 20 g kirsch (optional) (1 Tbs + 2 tsp)
  • 1/4 vanilla bean split lengthwise
  • 105 g dried tart cherries (3/4 cup + 2 Tbs)

For the scones

  • 332 g all-purpose flour (2 1/4 cups + 2 Tbs)
  • 6.5 g baking powder (1 3/8 tsp)
  • 4.5 g baking soda (3/4 + 1/8 tsp)
  • 2.2 g kosher salt (3/4 tsp)
  • 133 g cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (9 Tbs + 1 tsp)
  • 178 g heavy cream (3/4 cup)
  • 105 g chocolate chips (1/2 cup)

For the glaze

  • 100 g Confectioners' sugar (3/4 cup + 2 Tbs)
  • 45 to 50 g Reserved cherry syrup (2 1/2 to 3 Tbs)
  • 30 g heavy cream (2 Tbs)

Instructions

For the cherries -- Day 1

  • In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar,and kirsch, if using. Using a sharp knife, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add seeds and bean to the mixture. Bring to a simmer. Strain to remove large pieces of vanilla. Return syrup to pan, add cherries, and bring back to a simmer. Remove from heat and cool.
  • Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate overnight.

For the scones -- Day 2

  • Strain cherries, reserving about 3 Tbs of the syrup for making the glaze.
  • Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on low for about 15 seconds.
  • With the mixer on low, add butter pieces and mix for about 3 minutes to incorporate the butter completely.
  • Slowly add cream and mix just until a dough forms around the paddle. Scrape down sides and bottom of the bowl.
  • Add cherries and chocolate chips, and pulse to combine.
  • Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours to firm the dough.
  • Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
  • Use an ice cream scoop to form about 30 equal portions of dough, placing on lined baking mat. Wrap and freeze until solid, overnight.

For the glaze -- Day 3

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange scones on baking sheets lined with silicone baking mats or parchment, leaving 1-inch spacing between each.
  • Bake for 25 to 27 minutes, rotating top to bottom and front to back halfway through, or until golden brown.
  • While the scones bake, whisk together powdered sugar and 45 g (2 1/2 Tbs) reserved syrup in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in cream, adding more syrup if needed to maintain a glaze-like consistency.
  • Brush glaze on scones immediately after removing from the oven. Cool completely.

Ingredient discussion:

We didn’t use the kirsch, since we don’t have any, and didn’t see the point of buying some for just this recipe. For the cherries, we used dried Montmorency cherries — we found a bag at Trader Joe’s. For the heavy cream, we always try to use organic, as it doesn’t contain any seaweed (read those ingredients; if you don’t know what it is, look it up, then decide if it’s something you want to eat). For the chocolate chips, we use Callabaut chocolate chips that we order in bulk (you’ll see a downside to that); we think it’s a better chocolate for just a bit more money.

Procedure in detail — Day 1:

We’ll cover everything you need to do today for your scones, which isn’t very much.

cherry prep
Our vanilla beans split into small pieces, so we just added it right to the water and sugar mixture (after scraping), knowing we could strain it out later.

Make vanilla syrup. In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar, and kirsch, if using. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod and add the seeds and pod to the liquid. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring often to dissolve sugar. Once simmering, remove from heat and strain to remove vanilla pod pieces. If needed, clean the saucepan to remove any stray pieces of vanilla pod.

 
simmering cherries
Bring the cherries back to a simmer, then remove from heat and let cool.

Make cherry syrup. Return the strained vanilla syrup to the pan and add cherries. Place back over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let cool.

 
macerating cherries
Let steep overnight to infuse the cherries with the vanilla syrup and the syrup with cherry flavor.

Steep. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate overnight.

 

Well, there was really nothing to that, right? In the original recipe, it called for adding just the vanilla bean seeds, but our vanilla beans are drying up a bit and broke into several pieces, so we just flung it all in after scraping, knowing we’d do an extra straining. But, even with that, when we tasted these cherries, we knew that we are likely making a winner. Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of Bouchon Bakery’s Cherry Chocolate Scones.

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